Our leather – tried and tested

We buy all leather for our Senmotic barefoot shoes in Germany.

For our Senmotic barefoot shoes, we use only materials of proven quality. We make the shafts and linings for all our barefoot shoes from leather at our own workshop. We have good reasons: Leather adjusts to your feet, creates a healthy foot climate and is breathable. As a natural product, leather is bio-degradable and
does not harm the environment. That’s why we chose leather. We buy all our leathers in Germany. Preferably whole hides. As a natural product, leather can feature differences in color and
structure. Small scars are also normal. If a cow gets a scratch from a thorn or rubs against a tree, the leather will show it. If leather looks all smooth and one shoe looks like the next, it’s a
bad sign. This means the leather was “treated to death” with chemicals and plastered with dyes. People think they buy quality leather, when it has no scars or cracks. But the opposite is the
case. Such leather is full of chemicals and looks like plastic.

While many manufacturers source Vibram soles for their barefoot shoes, we worked on our expertise and chose to develop our own product. The shoes were designed in Italy and the outsoles developed
in Germany. Manufacturing a regular sole with 3 cm heels is often a routine job.

But for a 2.9 mm sole like the Senmotic FX, you need specialists. Height and design of the profile, abrasion, flexibility, slip resistance and protective qualities require a delicate balance. In
the nearly 12 months which it took us to find the perfect mix, we wore down plenty of soles and prototypes.

This allowed us to amass heaps of experience with outsoles. Therefore our soles resist regular wear far longer than similar products. As the No.
1 for hand-made barefoot shoes from Germany, we were also the first ones worldwide to develop a completely new technology for outsoles.

For our insole (called “insock” by experts), we use a two-component sole which is only 1.6 mm thick. The underside is made of Poron. This very resilient material returns to its original shape
even after enduring massive tension. Poron is available in various thicknesses and degrees of hardness. We tested for several months and used up hundreds of insoles and countless barefoot shoes
to find the ideal mix ratio for our barefoot shoes. We have a special microfiber laminated to the Poron for our insoles. Here we use the highest available fiber density, i.e. maximum quality.
Microfiber is very delicate. Microfiber weighs between 0.5 to 0.7 dtex (= 0.5-0.7 g per 10,000 m) and is far thinner than silk, for example (1.38 dtex). These extremely thin materials have the
advantage of gathering many, many fibers on a very small surface, so they can best develop their qualities.

The Senmotic FX10 sole is glued to the shaft. If sewing is the more durable and modern method, why don’t we sew together cars and airplanes? But heavy-duty parts are glued together in
engineering. Nowadays, adhesives are so highly developed, that bonds are harder and more durable than the glued materials, even heavy-tensile steel. We had our barefoot shoes tested in a lab. The
leather tore before the glue bond fully separated.

Our laces were originally made of cotton. Unfortunately, natural cotton breaks very fast, so we switched to synthetic material. We source or laces from Germany, from a company near Düsseldorf.
Our loops and rivets are nickel-free. We source these metal parts from a company near the town of Zweibrücken.

Why are children grateful to you? Because 3.18% of the profit from each sold barefoot shoe go to the Senmotic charity fund for SOS Children’s Villages. With our barefoot
shoes, you buy more than just health and hand-made German quality. One single pair of Senmotic barefoot shoes is a triple blessing:

Our company paid a five-digit sum into the Senmotic charity fund. All interest income from this fund goes to the SOS Children’s Villages. The fund is recognized as charitable
by the German tax authorities and is non-terminable. We committed ourselves to pay 3.18% of the profit from each sold barefoot shoe into the fund, thereby adding to the
endowment. As the fund grows, the interest payments grow, and the SOS Children’s Villages have more money at their disposal every year. Senmotic is far more than just
hand-made German barefoot shoes: Our shoes are a statement!